A New Techique for Automatically Filling a Storage Bin with Fruit Without the Use of Water

Fruit is currently harvested by hand with the only aids being a ladder and a picking bag. Fruit is placed in a storage bin in the orchard by the picker. No apples are currently being mechanically harvested for the fresh market in the U.S. A key barrier to achieving the labor savings of mechanization is the lack of a Dry Bin Filler that doesn't damage the fruit. A method of reducing the cost of harvesting fruit is a priority for the U.S. tree fruit industry. Instead of pickers moving and climbing up and down ladders to pick the fruit and empty their picking bags, a Harvesting Aid would replace the ladder by positioning the pickers and moving them along the row of fruit trees. Labor would be further reduced by transporting the fruit from the picker's location to a Dry Bin Filler that is incorporated into the Harvesting Aid. Mechanization of harvesting tree fruit is viewed as a means of increasing worker productivity. Increased productivity would allow U.S. growers to maintain viability and compete with countries that have dramatically lower labor costs. The purpose of this project is to develop a method of automatically filling the storage bin without damaging the fruit in the process.